Peter Long on Chess

http://www.themalaymailonline.com/opinion/peter-long/article/doing-their-countries-proud

https://www.fide.com/component/content/article/15-chess-news/9832-fide-trainers-seminar-in-kuantan-malaysia.html I came upon this surprising announcement on the FIDE website... but then was even more surprised to see the following detail at the bottom of the "regulations": Seems the Malaysian Chess Federation (MCF) President has so much time to answer email enquiries as to how payment is to be made for the seminar... or can it be perhaps that the email given is administered by someone else? Why not just list the details of the MCF bank account?

http://wy2016.fide.com/participants/starting-rank-open-18/

http://www.themalaymailonline.com/opinion/peter-long/article/the-good-the-sad-and-the-ugly

http://arbiters.fide.com/seminars/seminar-announcements/804-fide-arbiters-seminar-in-mandalay-myanmar.html

From Olimpbase I extracted the results from the "Open" Era where all the teams played together. OPEN (MEN) 2016 - Baku, Azerbaijan - 134th from 180 teams 2014 - Tromso, Norway - 72nd from 172 teams 2012 - Istanbul, Turkey - 64th from 156 teams 2010 - Khanty-Mansiysk, Russia - 92nd from 148 teams 2008 - Dresden, Germany - 96th from 146 teams 2006 - Turin, Italy - 80th from 147 teams 2004 - Calvia, Spain - 70th from 128 teams 2002 - Bled, Yugoslavia - 75th from 134 teams 2000 - Istanbul, Turkey - 64th from 126 teams 1998 - Elista, Russia - 74th from 110 teams 1996 - Yerevan, Armenia - 64th from 114 teams 1994 - Moscow, Russia - 96th from 124 teams 1992 - Manila, Philippines - 78th from 102 teams 1990 - Novi Sad, Yugoslavia - 73rd from 108 teams 1988 - Thessaloniki, Greece - 58th from 107 teams 1986 - Dubai, UAE - 42nd from 108 teams 1984 - Thessaloniki, Greece - 50th from 88 teams 1982 - Lucern, Switzerland - 57th from 91 teams 1980 - La Valletta,

Malaysian was ranked a historically lowly 134th from 180 teams in the world at the World Chess Olympiad held from 1-14 September in Baku, Azerbaijan, but how well did we do relative to the rest of Asia and our neighbours in ASEAN? Asia Team Rankings 1st India 2nd China 3rd Iran 4th Kazakhstan 5th Australia 6th Uzbekistan 7th Vietnam 8th Qatar 9th Turkmenistan 10st Mongolia 11th Indonesia 12th Philippines 13th Singapore 14th Japan 15th Bangladesh 16th Kyrgyzstan 17th Tajikistan 18th UAE 19th Chinese Taipei 20th Iraq 21st New Zealand 22nd Pakistan 23rd Myanmar 24th Sri Lanka 25th Bahrain 26th Palestine 27th Lebanon 28th Mauritius 29th Saudi Arabia 30th Syria 31st Thailand 32nd Nepal 33rd South Korea 34th Kuwait 35th Oman 36th Macau 37th Malaysia 38th Afghanistan 39th Brunei 40th Guam 41st Hong Kong 42nd Maldives 43rd Fiji 44th Papua New Guinea 45th Palau Yes, 37th from 45 teams. Now even behind the likes of  Chinese Taipei, Palestine,

http://www.themalaymailonline.com/opinion/peter-long/article/malaysias-performance-at-the-world-chess-olympiad

I call them the backdoor boys - but they even dared to call themselves Olympians, the top five players in Malaysia and to talk about their fans! Yes, it was the worst performance in living memory by a Malaysian team and in stark contrast to our superb girls who did fantastically well with the best Malaysian performance ever! Only those who actually qualified to be in the team did well - congratulations is due to Sumant Subramaniam for a performance that earned him the FIDE Master title. Not bad either for International Master Jimmy Liew who cleverly played down the order and proved at his age that even with an extended run he can still play at 2200 level.

http://www.themalaymailonline.com/opinion/peter-long/article/anti-cheating-shenanigans-at-the-world-chess-olympiad

http://www.indialivetoday.com/veteran-international-chess-arbiter-v-kameswaran-lacks-money-to-receive-prize/25732.html

Azerbaijan Girls! Waiting for the start of the Opening Ceremony. Singing the National Anthem of Azerbaijan - A Wonderful Vocal Performance! Fantastic dance performances - easily one of the best Opening Ceremonies in the history of Chess Olympiads! The grand finale to a very memorable evening!  Finally, the drawing of lots by the leading teams in both Women and Open sections - China's Hou Yifan and the Chief Arbiter with Russia's Vladimir Kramnik As expected of a most gracious host, FIDE was given due respect by the organisers

http://www.themalaymailonline.com/opinion/peter-long/article/a-look-at-the-upcoming-fide-congress